As the day of the final of Asia Cup is approaching, Pakistan Electric Power Company’s (PEPCO) problems are also increasing since it is under pressure to assure continous supply in case the final is between Pakistan and India.
In reality, the match day would be a test of nerves for PEPCO. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s announcement of stopping load shedding during match of two arch rivals had put PEPCO in a fix and the company had to suspend supplies to vital areas.
The company has also started exploring possibilities of coping with the demand of electricity on the final match day and how to stop load shedding during the match. Interestingly, this time the match would commence on a working day (Thursday) thus creating more difficulties for the PEPCO, as it would be hard to manage electricity on a working day. The PEPCO management would be in a severe crisis if the prediction of the experts of the final being played between Pakistan and India comes true. The recent match between Pakistan and India was played on Sunday and the demand was not high due to closure of banks, offices and educational institutes while many industries also remained closed but all these would be open on Thursday, the day of the final.
“PEPCO is already trying to recover from the ‘loss’ of providing uninterrupted power on Sunday,” a senior official said, adding that the company had to suspend electricity supplies to the industries and commercial areas on Sunday. “You can close electricity during Sundays but if there is a working day then things get difficult,” he said.
Sources said demand during working days was more than 12,500MW while on Sunday it came down to 10,500-11,000MW while the shortfall remained more than 5,500MW. “On Sunday, the shortfall was around 4,500MW and it was bridged through extra ordinary load shedding before and after cricket match but on Thursday it would be more than 5,500MW,” another official said adding that one could imagine the price consumers would have to pay if no outages were carried out on Thursday.
It is pertinent to mention that consumers witnessed heavy load shedding immediately after the end of the match. “If the PM makes relief announcement then the consumers should get ready for heavy blackouts on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday,” an official said, adding that the power demand was already increasing due to increase in mercury. He said the political leadership needed to be realistic. “The government does not have enough money for producing electricity then why make such announcements which are totally against the ground realities,” he exclaimed.
